Witness the Power of the SVP Network!

Last month, 7 Partners and staff members represented LASVP at the largest Social Venture Partners conference to date in Portland, OR. The growing SVP network now has over 2,300 Partners in 29 cities around the globe, including the most recent additions to the network Chicago and Bangalore. Over 300 people came together to stretch their thinking and share ideas. There was even a nonprofit delegation from China who was able to join and share how SVP is becoming a global movement.

With almost 20 breakout sessions to attend and hundreds of socially engaged people to meet, SVP Partners were able to make connections and learn more about the power of the network at every turn. Sessions on Innovation in Education, Collective Action, and Financing Social Impact gave an overview of what is happening across the network and the movements that SVPers want to be a part of. In the Excellence in SVP track, Executive Director Diane Helfrey and Partner Way-Ting Chen (pictured) led a session on the LASVP Impact Framework and the Strategic Planning process to a packed room of people eager to learn from our experience!

Plenary speaker Dan Palotta, author of Uncharitable and Charity Case, provided an update on the Charity Defense Council. The Charity Defense Council seeks to be a voice for the nonprofit sector and act as an anti-defamation league. The organization has been granted 501(c)3 status, built a board, and has defined their five primary functions. SVPI board member and SVP Cincinnati Partner, Tom Callinan is aiding in the effort as well, as the chair of the Charity Defense Council’s anti-defamation committee.

Keynote speaker, Sam Kaner, author of the Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making, helped us think about our group interactions and how we can move toward consensus decision making. We learned about the dreaded “groan zone” that is a natural part of true consensus decision-making. The “groan zone” happens when a group finds itself with a number of ideas, opinions, and possible courses of action and must work through the diverse options in order to move toward consensus. Kaner described it as “struggle in the service of integration” and we learned that by helping one another to understand and communicate with each other, we can reach a decision.

On Changemakers Night, we heard firsthand how difficulties, setbacks, and failures lead to innovation. Matt Flannery of Kiva, Jill Vialet of Playworks, and Craig Kielburger of Free the Children all inspired us to keep moving through our own struggles as we stretch ourselves to the next level of impact and unleash our own potential. This trio of speakers gave us real-world examples of people who were lost, who failed, and who weren’t taken seriously, but found the strength to move ahead and create organizations that are making a better world, showing us all that innovation and change are possible.

If you weren’t able to make it to the conference this year, be sure to stay tuned to all of our SVP news and make plans to attend the next annual conference in Silicon Valley on October 18-19. It is a wonderful time to see the power of the SVP network in action and witness the power of coming together to create change in our communities.